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Introduction
The phenomenon of ballooning, breathing,
loss/gain or wellbore storage, will heretofore
be simply referred to as ballooning. With
acknowledgement to all previous documented
arguments to this being a misnomer and also
the fact that more often than not, people on the
rig and in the office do speak of this phenomena
as ballooning.
Complicating factors being
observed in the field are: losses with incomplete
flowback, complete losses and no flowback,
losses and flowback during trips and not during
connections, losses and flowbacks exceeding
losses, losses of mud and flowbacks of gas, etc.
The list is seemingly endless yet I will construct
a matrix and list explanations and laymans
terms of many of the most commonly
experienced phenomenon below.
First, lets examine a scenario common to many
of the most common petroleum traps drilled
today that can and will balloon if penetrated.
Most instances can be predicted and avoided by
diligent scrutiny as to the structure, the pressure
compartments and imbalances that can be
quickly and easily deduced. Both pressures and
stresses in the sands and shales that are
involved in a ballooning wellbore can be
surmised with the clever use of seismically
obtainable information. As stated earlier it is
possible to detect wellbores that will balloon
before drilling by using seismically attainable
data and therefore it is possible to avoid these
scenarios even in wildcat wellbores.
The
content of the reservoir fluids is vital to the
analysis and the prediction of sand contents isnt
always guaranteed as we all know. Even if
reservoir
contents
cant
be
absolutely
ascertained a screening for possible ballooning
conditions based on a worst and best case can
easily be made.
Structural apex penetrations of strata with
sand/shale sequences where the sand pore
pressures are much higher than the bounding
shale pore pressures have a high potential to
balloon. This same environment tends to have
sand fracture strengths exceeding the shale
fracture strength by an appreciable amount.
The drilling fluid equivalent static density (ESD)
will necessarily be higher than the highest
exposed sand reservoir pressure or else the well
will kick during connections. The only remaining
factor needed for ballooning is a sealing
boundary that prevents fractures that form in the
shales from extending indefinitely allowing the
..(1)
ESD
ESD
-
-
BT ECD -
ECD
-
ECD -
ECD
BT
-
EAD
EAD -
ECD
-
EAD -
EAD
BT
ECD
EAD
BT
-
ECD
EADECD
!
,-+
.S/ 12 2
3+
56 -678
,-+4 5 -678
;6 -678
<=>
9 ,-+4 5 -678
.(2)
,-+
.S/ 12 2
cos5strike9+
;L MN
OPQ
3+
;6 -678
,-+4 5 -678
@ cos5dip9 @
@ cos5dip9 @
9
,-+4 5R MN
OPQ
3+
3
cos5strike9+; 4 ST 2 4 S) ?
,-+
,-+
UUVWX
(3)
` * cdPefgdh `hLi`f
a * cdPefgdh ahjif`
b * cdPefgdh bLkf`
Summary
This paper addressed the issue of ballooning in
drilling and gave a geomechanical explanation
and means for understanding, predicting and
mitigating the issues. It is my belief that in better
understanding the phenomena of ballooning
communicating in interdisciplinary teams and
conveying issues and instructions between the
rig and the office will be greatly enhanced. The
result should save time in diagnosing the
problems and in implementing the solutions and
also result in much safer operations and better
plans.
In most cases ballooning can be
predicted for any trajectory and casing setting
depth design using the concept of the FC and an
Nomenclature
= poroelastic coefficient
BT = Ballooning Threshold =
l8 = depth at which the vertical stress is maximum for the total interval planned to be drilled.
X = depth of interest
#$%& = reduction of bottom hole pressure in a wellbore due to swabbing effect of pulling pipe.
* Youngs Modulus aka Elastic Modulus
ST = strain in the direction of maximum horizontal stress tectonic & tri-lateral compaction (TLC)
S) * strain in the direction of maximum horizontal stress tectonic & tri-lateral compaction (TLC)
EAD = equivalent annular density includes the added weight of circulating mud and cuttings load.
EADpqrstq uvw = equivalent annular density while control drilling at reduced ROP to minimize losses.
ECD = equivalent circulating density includes the friction pressure of the circulating mud system.
ESD = equivalent static density of the pressure a drilling fluid column exerts at the hole bottom.
FC = fracture centroid depth
hy * fracture height
ly * fracture length
PC = pressure centroid depth
= fracture pressure
Z[\]^ = fracture pressure of a sand
= pore pressure
* Minimum fracture pressure of all sands in any open hole interval
#%W
S) *
,-+
.S/ 12 2
3+
,-+4
56 -678
5 -678
@ cos5dip9 @ cos5strike9+
,-+4
56 -678
5 -678
@ cos5dip9 @ cos5strike9+;
3+
,-+4
ST 2
3
S ?
,-+4 ) UUVWX
References
Davis, M. D., 2011a, Basis Change Enables Better Fracture Pressure Prediction Via Only
Seismic Data, SPE (submitted December 4, 2011)
Davis, M. D., 2011b, Best Practices in Selecting Casing Setting Depths and Common Design
Pitfalls, SPE (submitted November 3, 2011)
Davis, M. D., 2011c, Drilling Geomechanics - Pre-Drill Fracture Centroid Perspective Is Key
To Design Pressure Balanced Open Hole Intervals And Avoid Costly Imbalances, SPE
(submitted December 25, 2011)
Heppard, P. D., and Traugott, Martin O., 1998, Use of Seal, Structural, and Centroid
Information in Pore Pressure Prediction in Alan Huffman, ed., Transactions of the American
Association of Drilling Engineers Industry Forum, Pressure Regimes in Sedimentary Basins
and Their Prediction, September 2 4, 1998, Conroe, Texas p. 4
Zoback, M. D., 2007. Reservoir Geomechanics, first edition. Cambridge University Press.
Author Bio
Michael Davis is a petroleum engineer with Drill Science Corporation in Houston consulting for operators
with operations worldwide. Davis has engineered and managed drilling and completion projects with major
multinationals and independents, mostly in HTHP and deepwater environments as well as drilling
intervention wells and other highly technical projects needing his expertise and leadership. Davis researches
emerging technologies and the science and psychology of team building and team work. Davis values the
people involved in a project as the greatest resource and believes the tools and skills required for these
people to excel is key. Davis holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Texas in petroleum
engineering. Davis is a Member and Technical Editor for the Society of Petroleum Engineers' Editorial
Review Committee as well as a frequent participant and contributor to the Drilling and Geomechanics TIG on
the SPE.org website.
Sand
No Losses
Shale
Losses